Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Screen-Free Vocabulary Building Games Kids Enjoy w/ Teresa Argenbright

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Screen-Free Vocabulary Building Games Kids Enjoy w/ Teresa Argenbright · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of the Five Minute Parenting Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Karen Ferguson, wife, mom, grandmom, and children's book author with a background in K-8 education and a passion for equipping parents to raise confident and God-confident kids.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we'll cover parenting practices for both a practical view and a biblical view.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal is to help you raise kids with a positive, godly self-image so they can become all they were created to be.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're busy, so we'll keep it short.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take just five minutes and dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome back to Five Minute Parenting, tips to help you raise competent and God-confident kids.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: Today's guest is Teresa Argonbright, a children's book author with a lifelong love of language, rhythm, and storytelling.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Teresa's newest book, Charlotte and Penelope and the Neighborhood Stage, is the second in the Menagerie series, a charming, rhyming picture book series filled with clever wordplay, colorful characters, and heartwarming fun.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Teresa's background spans everything from advertising copywriting to nonprofit grant writing, and now writing stories that inspire joy, imagination, and giggles in kids and grown-ups alike.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Teresa splits her time between Fort Worth, Texas and the Colorado Mountains.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And when she's not writing, you can probably find her on the nearest dance floor.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Teresa, welcome to the show.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Karen.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad to be here.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's great to have you.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there were so many topics we could have chosen for this podcast.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: You're a fantastic resource for parents and educators, but I really wanted to focus on helping kids build their vocabulary because it's an important part of growing literacy in our kids.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that parents are running so fast these days.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I love that you offer tips for building vocabulary on the go.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just dive in with the first question.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, Teresa, your books use such fun and rich vocabulary.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: How can parents use everyday moments to introduce new words to kids without it feeling like homework?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's you mentioned I am such a fan of words, always have been.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I I picked that up pretty early in life, watching my own mother do crossword puzzles and seeing how they could fit words together.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you had to know you had to have a pretty good vocabulary to do a crossword puzzle.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the the first thing that parents can do to teach their children about language and literacy is to just model that in front of your kids, to read your own books in front of them, to read the newspaper, to do crossword puzzles, to, you know, when you see something interesting in a newspaper that's appropriate for your child's age and station, share that with them and show them that you know that this is I learned this in the newspaper.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm dating myself a little bit because most newspapers now, a lot of people don't read them printed in a in a hard print matter.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: They read it on a screen, but it's the same thing.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Model that for your children is the first step.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And reading to your children from the very early age, even before your kids are verbal, you know, reading to them as babies just implants language and language skills into their sponge-like brains that will then become more and more curious as they are able to speak and learn how to how to make their own words.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, I agree.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I always say it's never too early to start reading to our kids or grand.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, what are your favorite screen-free vocabulary-building games that families can play on the go, uh, whether that be in the car, the grocery store, or even on a walk?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I probably drove my kids crazy with some of these, but I just thought they were fun.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: We would, if we were in the car, you know, we'd play the opposite game, and I'd say, you know, tell me the opposite of fast, or tell me the opposite of happy, or um, you know, and then the words would get a little more sophisticated and elevated the older they got.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but and I would let them know that okay, there's not just one opposite.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: The opposite of fast could be slow, it could be tedious, it could be, you know, just a number of different words.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so we would always kind of dig a little bit deeper.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Give me another one, give me another one.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, the opposite of that is tell me another word for happy.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: You could be joyful, you could be elated, you could be, you know, feeling good, you could be smiling, um, you know, just just learning that there's so many different ways to describe something.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So that was one.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, you know, just reading, we'd go through the the grocery store and you'd see Nabisco on a on a box of crackers or something.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I would, you know, can can you read that?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can we sound it out?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Can we figure out what that means?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, just just wherever you are, there's always printed material um to just use it and and even if they don't know what the word is, take a stab at it and see how close you get.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's those teachable moments that make it very natural.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's great.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you mentioned the importance of laughter.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: How can humor, rhyme, and silliness play a role in both vocabulary development and even bonding with our children?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one of my favorite memories, and I'm gonna tell you a story real quick, that came to me after I had already started reading, uh, writing my first book.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: I just had forgotten this entirely, and all of a sudden it just sort of popped in my mind.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was probably around four years old, and my mother had run across a little poem in a magazine.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think we were in the dentist office or something.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: It might have been a highlights magazine, who who knows.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: But she was reading this four-line poem to me, and she got so tickled she couldn't finish the poem.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a little, it's you can look it up.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's a poem about Algie Men a bear, and it's by Ogden Nash, who I later came to know as just a brilliant humorous poet.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's just top-notch in my book.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she she she got through the third line and she read, she could see ahead, and she read the last line to herself, but she hadn't verbalized it yet.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And she was doubled over in laughter.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And just watching her, I started laughing.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then the more each of us laughed, the more we laughed.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, it was one of those you had to just stop and catch your breath and and get yourself under control.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And once we finally were able to talk again, I looked up at her and I said, Why are we laughing?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then she was able to explain.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: She read the last line and explained it to me.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it was it was one of those kind of double entendres that I didn't reach, I had it had to be explained to me as a four-year-old.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I remembered that as such a bonding moment.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was such it's a memory that stayed with me my entire life.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and it was that moment of sharing printed material.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: She was reading to me.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: We both had that joyous experience from two different angles.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I wasn't laughing for the reason that she was laughing, but we both had that common experience.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's why I want my books to be able to make people laugh and be enjoyable.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And for a reader, whether it's an adult, an older sister or sibling, or a caregiver, but for it for a reader and a non-reader to have those moments of just sharing a good story and and having their own emotional reaction, but having it at the same time looking at the same page is just such an enriching moment for both parties.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: That you know, that's why I am just so on a mission for kids to build their literary skills and just to be able to read.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, by the time they're 10 years old, they can read to to and with each other and with younger siblings and all of that.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: So well, it's true, right?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: Laughter is contagious, and I think anytime we can make uh learning playful, that's just gonna draw kids in, you know, and exactly like that.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what was the name of oh, what was the name of that poet, Ogden Nash?
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Ogden Nash.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and the four lines in the poem I can tell you very quickly were algae met a bear.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: The bear was bulgy, the bear was bulgy.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember the third line, but the bulge was algae.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's cute.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: You you figure it out, you know, the algae makes demise, but it and it's it's a little twisted, but it's also very funny.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: Fun, yeah.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: But these things down because I will be including some of these ideas and um in the show notes.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, listeners, be sure to check that out.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: That's oh check out the the humorous poet Ogden Nash.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's special.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Well, well, what advice do you have for parents or grandparents who want to help foster a love of reading in their kids and grandkids, but maybe they have some reluctant readers or even tech obsessed kids?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you know, you you want to listen to the child and see where their interests are.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and let take them to a bookstore or a library.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Don't don't forsake your public libraries.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: They're they're you know massively important.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So important.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: But take them to a place where books are available, let them choose.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, but but the you know, say, okay, we're going here.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: The rule is you have to find one thing at least that you want to take home and read.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll help you read it if it's a little difficult, or you can read it on your own, but let them choose according to their interest.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where a great bookstore owner or a children's librarian can be of such value because they know what's on their shelves.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have a uh an eight-year-old who is obsessed with computers and maybe outer space and all of that, they say, Oh, I know just the thing for you.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, just start letting them read whatever they're interested in and show interest in it as well, and maybe read along with them so that you can discuss what they're reading.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I think, you know, letting them follow their interests, um helping them learn that a book is not just words on paper with two thick pieces of cardboard on either side, that it's it's a a route into adventure and imagination and setting aspirations and you know, all of all of the magic that we just don't see, you know, on a day-to-day basis unless we're really looking hard and and you know looking beyond what the obvious is.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's it's just it's such a great way to to teach a child that this can be your escape.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is where you go, you know, that's that's strictly yours.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great advice.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Teresa, last question for you today.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: What is next for Charlotte Penelope and the rest of the menagerie?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Can readers more rhymes and adventures?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have some in mind, yes.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um the first book, the one about the magical menagerie, sort of introduces the characters.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: You get to know them a little bit.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: The second book tells you about how the menagerie, who are all the friends in the neighborhood, band together to do something extra special for their two friends who are sick and can't come outside to play.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that one's all about discovering talents and and new ways to to show friendship for others.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the next one I am the next one in the series, I've got an idea, kind of playing around with it now, probably maybe a year out, but I think it's gonna involve a road trip.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: A road trip, okay.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're all gonna, or at least part of the menagerie is gonna load up in a in a car and see parts of the USA.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that would be great.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I can't wait to hear more about it.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we're gonna have links to your your website and your your books online, but where is the best place to find you online?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: I know parents are gonna want to connect with you.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, beyond the website, uh, which is teresaargenbright.com, all one word spelled together.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, beyond the the uh website is my I'm on social media, I'm on Facebook and Instagram, both my name.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I believe Instagram is Teresa Argenbright underscore underscore author.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but there are links on my website.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: In the second book, there's a QR code that takes you to my link tree.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't get it in the first one because I wasn't that sophisticated yet.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: But okay.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: But if you buy the book about the neighborhood stage, there's a QR code in there.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, the best place to start is on my website and it'll take you everywhere else.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we will have links to that in the show notes.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, listeners, be sure to check that out.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And thank you again for being here, Teresa.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, it was so great to talk to you.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_01: I hope to have you back soon and hear more about your next book.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: So and listeners, thank you for joining us today.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to like, subscribe, and share this podcast, and then come back next week for another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, have a blessed week.